Norbert opens Hoddesdon site for CHEP

CHEP has opened a new eco-friendly UK service centre at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, which is being run by Norbert Dentressangle.

The two companies have invested £3.8 million in the plant, which was officially opened today (22nd May) by Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne.

CHEP and Norbert Dentressangle were both involved in the design of the hub, which boasts two production lines with the ability to handle 30,000 to 40,000 pallets per day and repair between 10,000 and 14,000 pallets in each 24 hour period.

Some seven million pallets are expected to pass through the centre each year, with the capacity to increase to 8.6 million over time.

The centre employs 150 people, the majority of which have transferred from CHEP’s now redundant Dunstable service centre.

The site uses a bio-mass boiler, which runs on waste wood from pallets that has been turned into chips on site for fuel to heat the building and produce hot water.

Other eco-features include a 15 per cent glass roof area to maximise natural light and motion sensors on electric lights to reduce energy consumption.

Water tanks have also been installed underground which collect and store rainwater before releasing it gradually into the drainage system.

Michael Pooley, general manager of CHEP UK & Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be opening this new service centre, which we decided to locate at Hoddesdon to improve the service to our customers in the South East.

“Working with NDL we shall be monitoring the effectiveness of the bio-mass boiler and the other environmental measures we are putting in place, to see if they should be installed at our other service centres across the UK.”